Monday, May 11th

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Monday, May 11

Acts 21:10-14

While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, "Let the will of the Lord be done."

Every so often I hear someone say, or I say myself, “That’s not a hill I’m ready to die on.” What is meant, of course, is that a certain issue or debate is not significant enough to warrant the investment of time, energy or resources it would take to solve the issue or win the debate. For example, if one of my sons decided to get a mohawk haircut on his 16th birthday because he thought it was “cool,” I hope I would have said, “That’s a hill I’m not ready to die on,” because a haircut is just not worth the risk of a relationship! The I would have just taken lots of pictures to show at his wedding someday.

But the flip side of that is, “What hill is worth dying on?” What issue or debate is so significant that it is worth everything, even life itself, to resolve or get right?

Here we see that Paul believes Jerusalem is a hill worth dying on. On two different occasions in Acts 21 Luke tells us Paul’s friends urge him not to continue on to Jerusalem.

Paul stops first in the city of Tyre, where he spends a week with the believers there. Luke writes:

And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. Acts 21:4

But Paul continues on to Caesaria, where he is met by a prophet named Agabus:

And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

So why are Paul’s friends so concerned about Jerusalem? And why, if the Holy Spirit seems to be warning him, is Paul so determined to continue to the great city?

Paul’s friends are concerned because they know that Paul will not be welcomed in Jerusalem. There are still many people in high places who regard Paul as a traitor to their faith and want to see him dead.

Paul knows all of this yet is determined to go to Jerusalem because wants to fulfill the call Jesus gave to him at his conversion. In Acts 9 when the Lord asks Ananias to help Paul, we read:

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." Acts 9:15-16

Paul has spent 20 years or more taking the gospel to the Gentile world, but he has not yet preached extensively in Jerusalem. I think he wants to go to Jerusalem because he believes that is part of what the Lord has called him to do.

Some think that Paul is ignoring or disregarding the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this story. While that’s possible, for no human being hears and follows the Spirit perfectly, I think there’s a better explanation.

I think Paul’s friends are genuinely concerned. But I think the Holy Spirit is simply using their concern to make sure Paul knows exactly what lies ahead of him. I think Paul believed the Spirit was leading him to Jerusalem because that’s how he understood his call from the Lord.

I think Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem because, even if arrest, imprisonment or death awaited, the gospel was still worth it. For Paul the gospel was a life and death issue!

Later, in his letter to the Philippian church, he would write:

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1:21

He believed the gospel brought life to the spiritually dead and therefore was worthy of everything, even his life.

Pastor Brian Coffey